Letters: Reopen the Kentucky Theatre. Save historic house. Healthcare system broken.

A broken system

The stories of subpar healthcare experienced by the women of color writing for the Herald-Leader’s “Our Voices” series are heartbreaking. They are painful to read. The gender biases and the racial biases are real. But as a white middle-class female who has been privileged to have had regular healthcare and good health most of my 60-plus years, I can promise you those experiences are not limited to people of color or even to women. I — and most of the people I know — can report hair-raising stories of doctors who dismissed our urgently voiced concerns, delayed necessary treatment, demanded expensive and otherwise useless tests, and insisted we pay unexpected bills. Even doctors I would consider compassionate and caring hesitated to take action or were hamstrung by the parameters of the medical system. The U.S. healthcare system is broken for all of us. Our individual health — and the collective health of an entire nation of diverse peoples — suffers. The pandemic made that so evident that we should not now be able to look away.

Sallie Showalter, Georgetown

Thanks, Merlene

The commemoration of the 1921 race massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was well covered by the media recently. (The massacre occurred when a mob of white people burned down a place called Black Wall Street, killing as many as 300 of its Black citizens and displacing thousands of Black Americans who lived in Tulsa.)

I read an opinion piece with interest recently in the New York Times, penned by actor and filmmaker Tom Hanks, advocating for the tragedy’s inclusion in American history classroom curriculum. Hanks wrote that until last year, he’d never heard of what happened in Tulsa.

I would like to commend the Herald-Leader for actions taken several years ago to bring awareness of this massacre to its readers. Herald-Leader columnist Merlene Davis devoted a column to the subject, and this is how I (and others, surely) became aware of the Tulsa massacre.

Please accept belated appreciation for widening awareness of this seminal point in American history.

Susan Dunlap, Louisville

Respect our flag

June 14 is Flag Day. Who cares? Police do not care because they bastardize the flag with a black-and-white “thin blue line” mockery of it. There is nothing in Title 4 of the United States Code that authorizes police to do this. Our governor, secretary of transportation, and my state legislators do not care because they underwrite printing an involute flag on a piece of metal; stamping identification numbers, the Kentucky name, and other advocacy on it; and assigning it to drape auto bumpers.

Subscribers to that breach of respect for the flag include foremost veterans, who should know better. Then come devotees of veterans, the firefighters, and the Christians. I wonder if appropriating the flag to serve individual causes is misguided.

These days the flag is prominent on all sorts of advertising and packaging. All sorts of flag-themed clothing are adorned upon ambulatory people. Many who attacked the U.S. Capitol waved our flag.

Our flag is a symbol for the United States of America. As such it serves no one. It is instead served when displayed with respect. I for one care.

Doug Epling, Lexington

A+ for governor

I am sick and tired of the so-called politicos trying to determine what Gov. Andy Beshear’s legacy should be. His leadership through this crisis has been exemplary and there should be no debate on this. Calling him the accidental governor is a ludicrous assessment coming from the very ones that got the worst president this country has ever had elected. The only accident was letting former President Donald Trump destroy every tenet of democracy and make a mockery of the highest office in the country. I wonder who cares what the politicos and Republicans think anyway. Their only concern is the money they have amassed and not the welfare of the people of Kentucky. Sen. Mitch McConnell is the perfect example of greed over conscience. I’d hate to see where we would be now if the critics had their way. We are fortunate to have had the leadership of a governor who was guided by science and conscience and not his political ratings and power. Kudos to Governor Beshear and many thanks for guiding us throughout this most difficult test of our resilience. He gets an A-plus.

Sara Houston Wellnitz, Lexington

Many roads ‘local’

Upon reading state Rep. Ken Upchurch’s Herald-Leader opinion piece in favor of Twin 33 trucks, I thought “That makes sense” until he said they would be limited to the highway network and not drive on local roads. What? I learned to drive on U.S. 68, going to Harrodsburg. Meeting a school bus along the cliffs above the river or a semi was a religious experience. Some liked to share your lane. You can’t see them coming. You never knew what was around the next bend; an obstruction or no road at all.

U.S. 68, state Route 33 through Burgin and numerous other highways in Kentucky are local roads. Even if these trucks were “limited to the interstate”, they still have to get from the interstate to their hubs. Amazon isn’t on a highway, it’s on a connecting “local road”.

And, with all that to the side, the longer the truck, the wider the turn radius. Depending on where your car is in relation to a bus or large truck making a right-hand turn, that can provide another religious experience. I know I’ve prayed that a bus or truck wasn’t going to tip over or hit another vehicle while maneuvering a turn.

Reliable rail service, anyone?

Glenna Brouse, Lexington

Save historic house

It saddens and sickens me to think that the Thomas B. Watkins House at Virginia and South Broadway (designed by architect John McMurtrey in the 1880s) will be pushed down into a pile of rubble. Nothing from the house is to be salvaged.

Forty years ago while working for Wade & Company Inc. (founded by architect Wade Christensen Jr.), we received a contract to renovate the house. We brought the house back to life.

We first removed 10 to 12 loads of pigeon poo out of the house. The staircase had been taken from the house. To mill the staircase would cost $15,000. Somehow through the grapevine we found the staircase and brought it back for around $3,000.

On the second floor we found a copper tub encased in a poplar box. In the attic was a water tank that caught water from the gutters. When the tank was full the gutters would close up and the balance of water would go down the downspouts. A burner under the tank would be lit for a hot bath.

The house has beautiful woodwork, solid wood doors, fireplaces in each door, and brass hardware. It is as solid as a rock. Do we have to continue destroying our historic homes and buildings?

Someone could save this historic house and make it useful. Please step up to the plate and save this outstanding piece of history.

Marcella Watts Anderson, Lexington

Argument bogus

In regards to Sen. Joe Manchin’s statement that the filibuster creating “a more equal playing field” in the U.S. Senate: Our forefathers gave each state two Senate seats to make the smaller states equal to the more populous ones. So does equal mean you only need 41% of the votes to block presenting legislation to the House floor, or as his words imply, a majority vote (50%+) should be the requirement to pass legislation? The less populated states today already wield greater power than their numbers endow. For example, in Wyoming, the least populated state, they have one senator for every 250,000 citizens. In California they have one senator for every 17.5 million in population. This means the half million voters in Wyoming carry as much political clout (two votes) in the Senate as the 35 million citizens of California.

If the party in power passes bad legislation, they will be voted out. If beneficial bills are passed, then that party will maintain power. This is the fear of the minority party and the problem the filibuster presents. The filibuster prohibits legislation that may be good for America from coming to fruition or the voter from judging which party based upon its actions rather than words is elected into office.

Robert Hoeller, Lexington

Change tax credit

By putting up $4,000 of their college student’s tuition expenses, parents can receive back up to $2,500 in federal tax deductions through the American Opportunity Tax Credit. This credit is available for four years and student loans can also count toward the $4,000.

Kentucky adds on an additional $625 if the college is in-state. So, over four years, a family could receive back in tax deductions $12,500 of $16,000 paid for college for one dependent student. Students themselves can claim the credit if they’re not claimed as dependents.

This credit makes college more affordable and reduces the need for loans, But, sadly, one cannot claim the credit if the student has a felony drug conviction for possession or distribution.

Much like the felony conviction question on job applications makes it harder for some to find work, the felony drug conviction rule here makes it more expensive for some to attend college. The American Opportunity Tax Credit should not discriminate against people with drug histories but instead be a lifeline for those fighting to turn their lives around.

This rule also seems racist since people of color are over-policed and incarcerated for drug crimes.

Working toward a career via college gives people hope for the future and may make it easier to leave drugs behind. Congress should remove the drug felony rule from this otherwise great tax credit.

Patty McDowell, Louisville

Reopen the Kentucky

I was just reminded of our city property, the Kentucky Theatre. The Kentucky Theatre is not just a film venue, but a public service.

The primary reason for that reminder is Lexington’s One World Film Festival (OWFF).

For 22 years, Annette Mayer and her wonderful organization of friends rented the theater, sometimes at an unused, odd time on Saturday.

One World Film Festival rented the State to show films no other location in town showed. Notably, One World packed the Kentucky Theatre on Martin Luther King Jr. Day as well as showing films that a diverse population came out in mass to see.

For years, the theatre each week rotated great art and foreign films that no other theaters would show.

Bring back our Kentucky Theatre as a public service, a home for a continuation of One World Film Festival and far more. Think of ways to expand its usage.

Don’t let this location — as a movie theater — fade into history that our children and grandchildren, friends, and neighbors won’t be able to enjoy it, or those of us with Kentucky memories can’t enjoy it again.

Don Pratt, Lexington